Kudos to UpCountry Fly Shop in CT

[kmudgn]

The Farmington River in CT is one of the best managed trout streams in New England. It is sourced by a bottom release dam, has a ton of catch & release restrictions, and gets a number of very large stocking during the year. Normally, the dam supplies water in the 40-55 F range all year. This year, however, there was so much rain that the reservoir was essentially drained and refilled 2x due to the volume of water coming in. This destroyed the thermocline as it displaced all the cold water at the bottom, so the outflow was coming off at about 65F. Because of this, river temps have been 70+F for much of the summer.

The UpCountry shop posted this report on their website: https://www.farmingtonriver.com/river-report/

Basically, it tells anglers not to fish due to the prospect of fish kill. The shop is on the Farmington and is the major reason why anglers stop in. For a shop to post info against their interest is just amazing and the owner, "Grady", should be commended for his action.

 

[Long_Rod_Silvers]

Reds has done something similar before. Self imposing hoot owls. Good stuff.

 

[RCF]

When fly shops like Red's and UpCountry post about fishing conditions, it is not against their interest as indicated above. I have also seen similar posts by The Merc. It is in the interest of the fishery and its long term viability which in turn supports the fly shop's interest as well as the shop's long term viability. Win-Win for both. I would much prefer to doing business with a shop like that that cares... Might even stop by when in the area and buy something to support them and say thank you...

 

[Tim L]

PA shops do the same thing. Tons of moving water and a notable brown/brook fishery. They don't mess around when it comes to regs, mgmt and enforcement and it shows. Everything I've seen is pristine, litter free and ripe w/ quality fish.

If it weren't for the fracking issue I'd have a place.